Star Clippers Grows

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From the Blogs

Five Things You Missed About Cruising: Royal Genies

Yapple Dapple!

A butler by any other name is a Royal Genie for passengers staying in Star Class accommodations aboard Royal Caribbean Ships. Trained and certified by the British Butler Institute, these men and women provide 24 hour a day service, engaging reservations for dining, entertainment and shore excursions. Likewise they can provide for everything from unpacking your luggage to cleaning and laundry while you are cruising.

However if you are expecting black and white butler uniforms complete with white gloves you will be disappointed. More fitting the modern surroundings Royal Caribbean has gone so far as to commission custom uniforms that are contemporary though still formal enough to give the men and women a distinctly different look from the ships crew at large.

The Star Class accommodations are the pinnacle of cruising on Royal Caribbean. However one should consider the suites that are part of this class can manage more than a traditional couple cruising on their own. Indeed the cost per passenger declines considerably if one travels with kids or family. Up to 8 passengers can be accommodated in some of the Star Class suites. Several members of the Cruise Aficionados community have actually sailed in the high-end suite and it noted how close to a more common stateroom in cost per person.

Five Things You Missed About Cruising

It was not an auspicious week for cruising with a few exceptions. Weather, physics, greedy passengers and the norovirus made appearances among the Five Things You Missed About Cruising!

The Love Boat Capsizes

Two ships served as the physical location of the landmark 70s TV show “The Love Boat. They were the identical twins Pacific Princess and the Sun Princess. In reality the Sun Princess was more commonly used due to her itineraries and the shows filming season. Built in France in 1972, the ship carried approximately 750 passengers and weight 20,636 gross register tonnes.

After passing between several owners until falling into the hands of a now inactive Chinese corporation. Renamed the Ocean Dream, the ship was anchored near Tialand where it was abandoned by its owner nearly two years ago. After a final move the ship sat without a crew until capsizing. Sadly this almost certainly spells the end of the ship as local authorities are looking into hiring a salvage company to raise and scrap the ship.

Anthem Lawsuits begin

Life, death, taxes and ambulance chasing lawyers. When you first read about the Anthem of the Seas encountering intense weather during a sailing out of Bayonne a couple of weeks ago, you likely mentally wondered how long it would take somebody to sue. The answer to that was slightly less than two weeks as two lawsuits are known to have been filed. One by a known passenger, the other by a law office specializing in suing the cruise lines. Indeed the law office tried to follow the Cruise Aficionados Instagram feed as the event was taking place-and was blocked since I have little use for people trolling my readers for clients. For that matter one passenger who seemed intent on filing a lawsuit before he even got to land had to be deleted and blocked.

Little is expected to come of the lawsuits according to most analysts commenting on the news this week. The cruise lines are well versed in dealing with such things and the explicit language of most cruise documents calls out what they are responsible for. Given the refunds and additional compensation offered, the lack of serious injuries, and the eyebrow raising but not undefendable choice to let the ship sale, you can assume not much will come of the effort.

Anthem hit by norovirus…..and bad weather

It was also not the best of weeks for Anthem of the Seas in general. The latest sailing this week was compelled to turn back according to problematic weather two days early. It appears that some passengers were also showing signs of the Norovirus at the time the ship changed it’s itinerary. Given the percentage of the nearly 4,000 passengers who would have had to displayed full symptoms, it isn’t likely the ship would have been forced back to port due to Norovirus early. Not that the ship wouldn’t have had issues by the end of the cruise.

Ugly Americans Get Pinched in Cozumel

The depths of tackiness cannot be overstated here. Two passengers from a Carnival Cruise Line ship in Cozumel were arrested by local police after store owners saw them stealing several items in the Royal Village Plaza. The 20 year old woman and her 37 year old male companion, both from Arizona, were taken to the local jail and from social media reports, their bags and passports were taken off the ship. The thieves tried to give the items back but I’m sure to their shock, the store owners understandably pressed charges.

Norwegian Names Joy

We will end this week’s Five Things with a bit of Joy. Norwegian Cruise Line has named its latest ship the “Norwegian Joy,” and the second “Breakaway-plus” class ship will be dedicated to the Chinese market explicitly. The original name was intended to be the Norwegian Bliss.

The Norwegian Joy

It isn’t a Dutchman, but the Flying Clipper will join her four other sail driven sisters in the Star Clippers fleet. Carrying an modest 300 passengers the ship will be the largest among the sailing ships the line offers. She will enter service in 2017.

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